The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to a body support (for example a chair, bed, stander, exerciser and/or seat) that stimulates synchronized body motions of a user and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to a chair that effects contra lateral motions of the shoulders and/or pelvis of the user.
Brightbill (US 2002/0145321) is a seating structure that provides improved comfort and includes a single, pair, or multiple numbers of moving seating assemblies with independent platforms, especially suited for the automotive or aircraft seating environments. A motion mechanism provides each seating assembly with at least one of total rocking, vertical up and down movement, lateral, and limited slight turning movement and in one embodiment generally constrains the seat members of the seat assemblies from interference with each other. The seating assemblies are provided at a neutral angle that corresponds to the particular application of the seat. Independent up and down movement, and rocking, improves seating comfort health, and safety especially as applied to a seating environment, where a user is likely to be seated for an extended period, such as in an automobile or aircraft.
Bykov (U.S. Pat. No. 7,387,339) is a sitting device which would make it possible to efficiently relieve the backbone in a sitting posture taking into consideration individual morphological and functional asymmetries, thereby normalizing the work of other organs and systems of an organism, first and foremost the organs of the small pelvis, optimizing the “torturosity” of the backbone associated with constitutional and geophysical factors. The sitting device comprises a support provided with a base in a top part thereof, on which a seat is mounted; said seat consists of two parts pivotally arranged on a horizontal axis which lies on a frontal plane and is fixed to the base, each part of the seat being provided with adjusters of the rotational motion thereof with respect to the horizontal axis; the device can be provided with a back and a bracket bearing a backrest, comprising two supporting elements pivotally arranged on the horizontal axis which lies on the frontal plane and fixed to the bracket, each supporting element of the backrest being provided with adjusters of the rotational motion thereof with respect to the horizontal axis.
Robertshaw (U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,095) is a split-seat chair that includes a mechanism for stimulation of a person's hips while seated in the chair, by generally simulating the hip motion which occurs during walking, or by allowing such movement by the user. Two platforms under the respective buttocks of the person preferably move in orbital motions about a horizontal axis transverse to the chair, the two pads orbiting 180 degree out of phase relative to one another. The speed of orbital motion is preferably coordinated with the rate of circulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the skull as it travels down into the sacrum. The chair moves the pelvis in a gliding motion that partially mimics walking while the person is seated, thus reducing posturally caused lower back pain and stiffness.
Harza (U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,385) discloses a method and apparatus for periodically and rhythmically lifting first one hip of a seated person and then the other, thereby simulating the muscle stimulation and relaxation imparted to the person through walking while the person is seated. Inflatable air bags provide lift to the seated person while an electric timer and control valve control the timing and distance of inflation.
Additional background art includes: Kunzler (U.S. Pat. No. 8,061,767); Berg (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,079,782 and 5,024,485); JP 2011156052; Durt (US 2009/0099490); Leib (U.S. Pat. No. 7,195,583); Farber (WO 1998/58568); Harza (U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,704); Bykov (WO 2003/068114); Knight (US 2003/0073552): Van Deursen (WO 2001/26508); Park (WO 2007/139365); Marshall (U.S. Pat. No. 7,357,768); Robertshaw (U.S. Pat. No. 6,866,340); Yonekawa (U.S. Pat. No. 6,592,533); Morrison (US 20070273188); Paul (U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,948); Einav (WO 2005074369); Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais at Alexander Yanai, The Feldenkrais Method, Awareness Through Movement Lessons, The Feldenkrais Institute, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2002 (particularly volume ten #469 pg 3181 and pg 3187); Frank Wildman Ph.D, Busy Person's Guide to Easier Movement Intelligent Body Press, Berkeley, ISBN 1-889618-76-4, 2006 and CN 201019975.